Google Maps rival helping Pakistan find Covid-19 hotspots plans IPO

TPL Trakker Ltd., a Pakistani mapping and tracking services provider that is also working with the government to locate Covid-19 hotspots, plans to raise 1.4 billion rupees ($8.4 million) in an initial public offering and use the proceeds to pay its debt and expand.

The local rival of Google Maps will offer 115.7 million shares, including 57.4 million units through a green-shoe option, or over-allotment, at 12 rupees each this week, TPL Trakker said in a filing. The subsidiary of TPL Corp Ltd. will use the funds to repay a loan, grow its business in the Middle East and buy tech equipment.

The company is selling shares amid a 33% rally in the benchmark index from a six-year low on March 25, and as demand for its services rise. TPL Trakker’s mapping software is being used by firms including Delivery Hero and Telenor ASA’s local units. The government is using the maps to enforce localized lockdowns across the country, which has seen 263,500 cases and 5,500 deaths making it the second-most infected nation in Asia.

Asad Umar, the minister overseeing measures to control the virus, said that restrictions based on geo-locations have slowed the pace of the pandemic’s spread.

The company has also started offering services such as driver fatigue monitoring and predictive maintenance.

“In the past 2-3 years we have moved our focus away from being a hardware company selling tracking devices to being more of a software-based player," Sarwar Ali Khan, chief executive officer of TPL Trakker said in an interview.

Separately, China Transportation New Technology Shanghai Ltd. and CCCC Industrial Investment Holding Ltd. are exploring to collectively acquire a 25% stake in the company by buying shares from the market after the listing, said Khan.